I've put flower in the bin.
Not because it looked wrong on paper. Not because the COA came back with bad numbers. Because it arrived damp, smelled of chlorophyll, and was clearly never going to be something We'd put our name on. It went straight in the bin and the supplier never heard from us again.
That's curing - or rather, the complete absence of it. And it happens more than the industry likes to admit.
After sixteen years around this plant and testing well over two hundred products, I can tell you with complete confidence that curing is one of the most important and most overlooked stages in the entire production process. It's where good flower becomes great flower - and where lazy or impatient producers expose themselves completely. You can have the best genetics in the world, a perfect grow, ideal weather conditions, a textbook harvest. If you don't cure it properly, you've wasted all of it.
What Is Curing?
Curing is the controlled drying and conditioning process that happens after hemp flower has been harvested. It follows the initial dry - which removes most of the moisture from the plant - and involves storing the flower in a controlled environment over a period of weeks, sometimes months, to allow a slow, gradual breakdown of remaining moisture, chlorophyll and unwanted compounds while preserving and developing the cannabinoid and terpene profile.
Think of it like aging whiskey or maturing cheese. The raw product exists before the cure. But the character, the depth, the complexity - that comes from time, patience and the right conditions.
Without curing, you're essentially selling an unfinished product.
What Happens During the Cure?
When flower is first harvested it's full of moisture - both inside the plant tissue and on the surface. The initial drying process removes the surface moisture. But the moisture inside the plant takes longer to work its way out, and if that process happens too fast or without control, it damages the flower.
During a proper cure, several things are happening simultaneously:
Chlorophyll breaks down. Chlorophyll is what gives fresh cut plant material that harsh, green, grassy smell and taste. It's the thing that makes badly cured flower taste like you're chewing a lawn. A slow cure gives enzymes within the plant time to break chlorophyll down naturally, resulting in a smoother, cleaner flavour.
Terpenes develop and stabilise. Terpenes are volatile - they degrade under heat and improper storage. A slow, cool, controlled cure preserves and allows the terpene profile to settle and mature. This is a big part of why well-cured flower smells so much more complex and developed than freshly dried flower.
Moisture redistributes evenly. If flower is dried too fast, the outside dries while the inside stays wet - leading to uneven moisture distribution that causes mould risk. A proper cure allows moisture to redistribute slowly and evenly throughout the bud.
Cannabinoids continue to develop. CBDA slowly converts to CBD during the cure as enzymes work through the plant material. The rate and extent of this depends on temperature, humidity and time - another reason why the conditions of the cure matter.
The Hard Part Nobody Talks About
Here's the thing about curing that doesn't get said enough - it's genuinely difficult, and it's where a lot of producers cut corners because they're in a hurry to sell.
It requires holding flower at the right relative humidity - typically between 55% and 65% - at cool, stable temperatures, in containers or environments that allow for regular burping (releasing built-up gases) without losing too much moisture too fast. You're managing a living, breathing process. Too much airflow and you dry it out. Too little and you risk mould. Too warm and you degrade terpenes and cannabinoids. Too cool and the process stalls.
It takes weeks at minimum. Premium producers often cure for sixty to ninety days. Some go longer for certain strains.
Every producer does it slightly differently. Jars are a classic method - small batches stored in sealed glass, burped regularly in the early stages then left to settle. Grove bags have become popular more recently - they're designed to maintain a specific humidity level passively, reducing the need for constant monitoring. Some producers still hang whole branches and allow a slow room cure before breaking down into buds. The method matters less than the consistency and attention behind it.
When we vet new suppliers at Originals we ask specifically about this. Dry time. Temperature and humidity during the dry. How the cure is handled, for how long, under what conditions. It's not a box-ticking exercise - it's a genuine conversation about whether these people actually care about the finished product. The producers we trust all have clear, considered answers. They've thought about it. It's part of how they work, not an afterthought.
How to Spot a Bad Cure
You can usually tell before you even open the bag.
Damp flower - not in a good way, not in a "well preserved moisture" way, but genuinely wet - is a red flag. We've received flower like this. It smells of chlorophyll, that harsh green vegetable smell that has no business being in a jar of premium CBD flower. It's a breeding ground for bacteria and mould. It went in the bin. We don't stock it, we don't review it, we don't give a second chance on something that basic.
Other signs of a bad cure: flower that crumbles to dust and has no give at all - over-dried, terpenes long gone. Flower with an ammonia note - a sign that anaerobic bacteria have been active during an improperly sealed cure. Harsh, catching taste that makes you want to cough immediately rather than the pleasant, smooth throat feel of well cured flower. A flat, one-dimensional aroma with none of the complexity that good genetics and a proper cure should produce.
Benzil put it perfectly in his Rainbow Sherbet review: some cultivators don't bother with a curing period, selling their flower as soon as it's dried, passing that responsibility to the consumer. He called it unethical and completely unacceptable. I agree with every word of that.
What a Good Cure Feels Like
The difference between well-cured and poorly-cured flower is not subtle once you've experienced both.
Good flower has spring in it. When you press a bud gently it gives slightly and bounces back rather than crumbling. It breaks apart cleanly rather than turning to powder. The aroma that hits you when you open the container is complex and developed - layered, sometimes floral, sometimes fruity, sometimes deeply earthy, but always with something going on beyond a single flat note. And when you brew it as a herbal tea or grind it to work with, that complexity carries through.
The producers doing this well - the ones growing in the Rogue Valley, the US indoor cultivators we work with - you can feel the care in the finished product. It doesn't happen by accident. It happens because someone spent weeks paying attention.
Why It Matters for Hemp Tea Specifically
If you're brewing hemp flower as a loose-leaf herbal tea, the cure is arguably even more important than for other uses.
A proper cure means cleaner flavour in the cup - no harsh chlorophyll notes, no green grassiness, just the genuine character of the strain. It means better terpene preservation, which affects both the aroma and what you're actually getting in the brew. And it means even moisture distribution throughout the bud, which affects how evenly the flower releases its compounds during steeping.
Poorly cured flower brewed as tea can taste genuinely unpleasant - grassy, harsh, flat. Well-cured flower from a strain with a developed terpene profile is a completely different experience. It's the difference between a cup you put down after one sip and one you sit with and enjoy properly.
The Bottom Line
Curing is the final stage of production and in many ways the most revealing one. It's where patience and care show up - or where their absence does. It's hard to fake a good cure. The flower tells you everything.
When we get a new batch in and the aroma hits right - complex, developed, clean - that cure is a big part of why. When something comes in that doesn't make it onto the site, nine times out of ten there's something wrong with how it was finished, not just how it was grown.
If you're ever in doubt about the quality of what you're buying, ask the vendor how their flower is cured. A good supplier will have a proper answer. A bad one won't know what you're talking about.
This article reflects the personal views and professional experience of the author and is provided for general information only.